User blog comment:GalaxiaWild/What if I made an RPG with Devil May Cry-style gameplay?/@comment-1350755-20120107160657/@comment-775152-20120107211713

Unfortunately when dealing with AI, there's only so much you can do. The usual answer to that is to introduce turn-based combat and let the player control every character, as per any Final Fantasy prior to 10, but that's not quite the feel you're going for. FFXIII didn't do a half-bad job with their AI using spells and abilities appropriate to an enemy's strengths and weaknesses after you've discovered them, (either through using a special ability or just through old-fashioned trial and error.)

FFXII I think did a better job with their gambit system. You can choose what actions you want your party to perform, and what priorty to give to them. So, you prioritize "healing" on your healer and "attacking" on your attackers. You can set them to attack different targets or the same one as party leader, or what not. Skyrim has a neat thing where your follower will use melee or ranged weapons depending on what you have out. I don't know how to code anything so I can't really help you with the details.

As for balancing spells and skills, one of the best ways to do that is to just test it. It's hard to say what will or won't be useful in a game until you know what you have to work with.